Woodstock Villa

The best thing about director Hansal Mehta's Woodstock Villa is that it's only about an hour and a half long. And for the first hour and fifteen minutes, nobody knows what's going on in the film. Nobody but the characters in the film, I presume.Sitting there in my seat I felt like I was being repeatedly stabbed in the eye, blinded by the saturated tones, the zip-zap editing, the crazy camera angles and generally by the filmmaker's irritating attempt to show off with stylish technical gimmickry. How you wish he'd paid as much attention to his wafer-thin plot.Without going into too many details, let me just say the film centres around the kidnapping of a successful businessman's wife and the ransom demand that follows. The kidnapper, one later discovers, may not be calling the shots in this operation after all. Woodstock Villa is one of those films where nothing is what it seems, it's a story of cheating spouses, double-crosses and mistaken identities. Constructed from a screenplay that's full of little holes, the film trades common sense for convenience. And as a result, you find yourself gasping in disbelief at the half-dozen or so slip-ups in the plot. It's the kind of film where cops talk in riddles, and Sanjay Dutt pops up in a pop song for no reason at all. It's the kind of film that thinks adultery and murder are the most lethal ingredients for a tight thriller.On the upside, debutant Sikander Kher delivers a confident performance as a morally questionable lothario caught in a web of deceit. He has an engaging presence and impressive dialogue delivery. Now if only he'd chop those long tresses and take a nice, clean shower. His co-star newcomer Neha Uberoi is easy on the eye, and fortunately is not expected to perform any acting histrionics. Arbaaz Khan, as the businessman whose wife goes missing, turns in a competent performance. Much like Rise and Fall, the short film he co-directed with Sanjay Gupta for that anthology of shorts Dus Kahaniyaan, Hansal Mehta's Woodstock Villa too suffers from the same disease - it's all style and little substance.Watch if you have time to spare, it's not a film I can recommend strongly

Sikander is new, and so is Neha. We gotta take it a bit easy on them, come on people. Sikander didn't act bad, and neither did Neha! Of course it's a different thing than Arbaaz Khan doesn't know acting... The storyline wasn't bad...but the soundtrack was humiliating, no doubt. Woodstock Villa, the opening of Sikander and Neha to Bollywood, is, overall, a treat to the eye and the ear. The small twists were little bit expected, but the overall effect was surprising still. If you take my opinion, then if you like movies which pass your time easily, and have a bit of thrill and suspense in them, then go for it. A brilliant cinematography, choreography, beautiful editing and a good production and direction will leave a good impression. The strategy of the whole storyline is good. 6/10 - not a bad start for both the newbies. After all, Times of India gave it a *** and a half...Can't be that bad can it, when Jannat and Bhoothnath got a ** and a half each? Hoping for something better from both next time. Nice try Hansal. Not a bad shot.

I saw this movie only because it was a White Feather Production whose previous film Dus Kahaneeyain was a good film(considering all ten stories). It's coming up with new ideas which have never been applied in Bollywood, plus 'The Great Indian Butterfly' and 'Pankh' also look very good in the trailers.

But this film was really a disappointment, the new actor Sikander Kher, son of Anupam Kher really dint act well nor did any one else and even the soundtrack is pathetic. The only reason that one can sit through the film is because it's not slow and second that the storyline is not all that bad, mildly predictable but bearable.

Unbelievably stupid amateur effort.

Complete waste of time. Of the 10 people in this theatre in London tonight where I watched it, half walked out midway through the film. I hung around thinking surely things would improve since the plot and direction had hit rock bottom....and how wrong was I...they kept digging.

Songs are pointless except one catchy tune. All the songs are out of place though.

Film's plot is embarrassingly stupid. The director has gone overboard trying to make this a classy project. The production team must be living on a different planet to think that this movie has anything good to offer. I am so upset wasting my time that I would term this film as a real TRASH.

The direction is AWFUL!! Real amateur. A smart kid can do a better job with directing this. 'White Feather Films' - I'll be wary of them henceforth.

GUYS STAY WELL AWAY!!!!!!!!

I'd too much expectation from this one, but it turned out to be a real letdown and the most tragic experience. The plot has been frequented and the execution could only have made the difference. Considering that director is Hansal Mehta (dir of "CHHAL" which wasn't outstanding, but nevertheless, was far satisfying than expected), I felt that though the plot isn't fresh, the execution will be effective and make the movie worth watching. But again, I was wrong. It's been handled in the worst way it could have ever been. All the songs were totally unnecessary and were purely intended to extend the duration of the movie, since a movie needs to be more than just an hour. Otherwise, the topic fitted the best for a TV series episode {I remember having watched many TV episodes with same plot, however can remember only one series name for now and that's "SURAAG" (produced by Adhikari Brothers; Sudesh Berry playing the lead role) and "APRADHI KAUN" with Ashutosh Rana playing lead role}.

With the director and script at their worst, most of the actors too tried to match up with them and delivered their worst performance ever (especially Sachin Khedekar). I can't understand why Sikandar (Kher) chose to begin his career with such a disastrous movie script. Anyways, his acting suited his choice, it was also as worst as the movie, if not more!!! There's no point in discussing Neha Uberoi, Arbaaz Khan and others' performances.

If you haven't watched this movie as yet, you're quite lucky and do yourself a favor by not even considering to watch it. Save yourself from a tragic experience by skipping Woodstock Villa, a movie which truly deserves to be in a trash box.